5.2.4.1 Binary Logging Formats

The server uses several logging formats to record information in
the binary log. The exact format employed depends on the version
of MySQL being used. There are three logging formats:

Replication capabilities in MySQL originally were based on
propagation of SQL statements from master to slave. This is
called statement-based logging. You can
cause this format to be used by starting the server with
--binlog-format=STATEMENT.

In row-based logging, the master writes
events to the binary log that indicate how individual table
rows are affected. You can cause the server to use row-based
logging by starting it with
--binlog-format=ROW.

A third option is also available: mixed
logging. With mixed logging, statement-based
logging is used by default, but the logging mode switches
automatically to row-based in certain cases as described
below. You can cause MySQL to use mixed logging explicitly
by starting mysqld with the option
--binlog-format=MIXED.

In MySQL 5.5, the default binary logging format is
STATEMENT.

The logging format can also be set or limited by the storage
engine being used. This helps to eliminate issues when
replicating certain statements between a master and slave which
are using different storage engines.

With statement-based replication, there may be issues with
replicating nondeterministic statements. In deciding whether or
not a given statement is safe for statement-based replication,
MySQL determines whether it can guarantee that the statement can
be replicated using statement-based logging. If MySQL cannot
make this guarantee, it marks the statement as potentially
unreliable and issues the warning, Statement may not
be safe to log in statement format.

You can avoid these issues by using MySQL's row-based
replication instead.